Today at my “corporate” job I had to take a non-harassment seminar. I remember in school when they showed those videos in the vein of “what not to do” such as not bullying or doing drugs. This seminar, and in particular, its video on common situations and responses reminded me of those early-age school videos. What I remember most prominently is the lack of similarity to real life situations but more so the lack of real responses. Someone smacks you on the a** and what do you do? Not what the employees in the video today did. How come these seminars don’t utilize contemporary videos with more realistic dialogue and reactions? It’s like taking a driving test in a course that has no real cars, you won’t truly learn until you go out on the real road. Just like the appropriate responses and actions in the movie are not relevant because they are contained in a dry and unlikely atmosphere. Why are all these videos from the 80’s anyways? Perhaps I should make string of contemporary videos that are updated every year to stay relevant so that they are realistic. I think it could be a huge moneymaker! Employers would subscribe to my business and I would send them new materials often because times change and so do situations and people, so should the materials you present in a non-harassment seminar.

At my new job I park on the side of the building. For several hours the side of the building shades the entire 3-space wide 20 or so space deep parking lot. Then as the sun rises, all but the spots closest to the building are full in the sun. There are enough employees who park in the lot that there aren’t that many extra spaces. They aren’t particularly wide spaces either but they are spacey enough for normal-sized cars. The mini-cooper I’m driving fits perfectly in the spot. However, there is that one person who parks in two spots, right in the middle. They take up the one closest to the building and the middle spot. I think this is such a jerk move. Their car is not overly large or overly wide. I don’t think this is okay to do, even if they are “senior” employees because one car does not need two spaces. It’s not like it’s a Ferrari either. Jerks. It really bothers me that they do this. Gosh, didn’t they learn to stay within the lines in elementary school?

Companies that offer incentives for remaining incident free confound me. At the low end of the spectrum are edible rewards whilst at the high end are monetary. One is too low and one is too high. Incentives that are too high keep employees from reporting incidents (at least at first unless they turn out to be large problems) and incentives that are too low do not motivate anyone. How about rewards for exhibiting safe behavior in the first place? Shouldn’t that be what is rewarded. Don’t accidents happen, even under the best circumstances, so it is not appropriate to reward the perfect outcome. What should be rewarded is the near-perfect environment.

Someone once told me that to rise to the top you had to be promoted. To be promoted, it is faster to take promotions from other companies because your own company cannot always view your potential. But if you are always changing companies, wouldn’t you theoretically start at the bottom?

Why is it that employees who have been with a company longer get more vacation time but are more integral to the company and therefore can’t take time away as easy or even at all (a la phone available during vacation) whilst new employees who aren’t that important get no vacation time at all? If I work longer and harder at a company I’m rewarded with something that I can’t fully take advantage of? Why aren’t I given the option to sign a contract with the employee stating terms on my end as well as theirs, such as I’ll commit to a year and they immediately commit to benefits and insurance, yadda yadda yadda…

To clarify: I have never had a full-time job, have never had a desk job, have never had this type of job before.

I thought it would be a struggle to change my sleep-wake habits to get up before 9:30 AM but I have found that I am so tired after working eight hours at the one job and doing other necessary things afterwards that I am so tired by 10:30 PM that I go to bed before midnight.

My body must sense something I do not because I hardly ever wake to my alarm but instead wake up 30 minutes – one hour before it goes off. Perhaps I don’t need as much sleep as I used to or I’m getting better, deeper sleep. Or I am so paranoid of being late that my body senses this anxiety and wakes me up in rather plenty of time to get ready.

I have already known this but I am less groggy in the morning when I have a purpose (such as getting to work by 8:30).

My eating habits are starting to suffer. Don’t tell my parents, but I ate a bagel and ice cream for dinner last night…. This should be easy to get a handle on because all I have to do is be prepared for making food, such as curbing myself from snacking right before eating and ruining my appetite.

Ego Depletion. Staying focused at work takes almost all of my concentration and depletes my ego entirely so that when I get home all I want to do is garden and watch movies. Unless I have something important pending, like taking care of business, phone calls, or job #2 I don’t have the heart to do anything for the rest of the night. The real loser in this situation is my writing. I don’t feel like it. Perhaps it is because writing is a never-ending project and I prefer to work on something I can complete, like a lesson in my web development class, a poster for farmer’s market, or that engineering project I can do.

You you know what really grinds my gears? Companies that never respond to e-mails or phone messages or are away from their desks between 9-5 M-F. I mean really? Are you even a company? You might as well not exist if nobody can get hold of you. You disgust me with your pathetic business practices.

Even if they say ‘no’ or there are no job openings, this could be the way you squeeze yourself into that company you want to work for. If it doesn’t pan into a ‘real’ paying job then it only adds good fodder for your resume.

Tired of the struggle? I’ve written past work numbers so many times I’ve re-memorized them. It’s difficult when you know most of the hard work won’t pay off. Once you get that rejection, all the work you’ve put into getting that particular job has to be trashed. The only thing you can do is dust off your original resume and work it for a new job. Don’t give up. Laugh.

I’m so tired of filling out that ridiculous impersonal blue and white application form. I had the idea to just get a copy, fill it out and copy it. This way I can bring their own filled out form for them and not have to keep re-filling it out every time I applied for a job where I wonder if they even read it…. Would save me loads of time and annoyance plus it might show my creativity/innovation/time-saving skills.